This painting party for kids is such a fun activity! Everyone gets to go home with a one-of-a-kind party favor—a painting for their bedroom! This post contains affiliate links.
You might also like our paint your own pottery party for kids!
Painting Party For Kids
Kaylee wasn’t sure what kind of birthday party that she wanted to have last year. She is super creative so I suggested maybe having another painting party! I frequently see my adult friends post about the painting parties that they go to and they look like so much fun. I’ve even seen virtual paint parties. So fun this past year! A painting party for kids sounded perfect and was super easy to plan and host. A trip to Hobby Lobby and an order to Amazon. Done.
The canvases doubled as the birthday party activity and the party favor at the same time!
We called it a “Pastries and Painting Party”. Kaylee wanted donuts instead of a cake which I was totally down with. She also saw this darling unicorn at Hobby Lobby and it matched the paints that she had picked out for the canvases. So that was a no-brainer. I love that she was completely involved with the planning.
Painting Party for Kids Supplies and Instructions
Supplies:
Canvas (11×14″ pack of 7 $9.99 at Hobby Lobby)
Table Cloth ($1 at Walmart)
Acryllic paint: $.77/each at Hobby Lobby
Paper Towels or Wet Wipes (for spills)
Set up was super easy:
I set out a plastic tablecloth and little paint kits (palettes and brushes) for each of our guests. I also set out aprons to protect their clothing.
I cut out the first letter of the first name of each participant in vinyl and had the canvases all ready to go. You can also use shapes like a heart, star, or unicorn silhouette!
Note: If you don’t have vinyl (and a vinyl cutting machine) you can use contact paper and cut the letters out by hand.
The goal was to fill up the entire canvas with color, then remove the vinyl letter after the paint has dried, leaving the monogram letter behind.
More Easy Birthday Party Ideas
Aren’t these colors perfect? They were so pretty and totally coordinated with the unicorn piñata.
At one point the house was absolutely silent. My husband and I couldn’t believe it. 10-year-old girls NOT TALKING. They said they were too busy concentrating on their paintings. They could let their creativity shine and there were no rules. The perfect skill level for beginners.
Each painting turned out so unique! Some of the girls used only the round sponge brushes. Others used the foam brushes. By the time the party was over the paintings were dry, making it easy to transport the fine art masterpieces to their homes— mess free.
This was an amazing paint party and was so easy to plan! Their paintings are now proudly displayed in their bedrooms. I’m glad they all had such an awesome time! When it came time for me to clean up I simply rolled everything up in the disposable table cloth and tossed it in the trash. Mom win.
She is already talking about doing another painting or craft party this year. I can’t wait to see what she decides on!
Here’s a collection of other ideas to use at a painting party for kids!
Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
What type of vinyl did you use on the canvas before they painted it? Did you have to do anything to the canvas for the vinyl to stick and then be removable? I’ve read different things. Thanks for any help!
Hi Sherri! I used cricut vinyl for the letters, but you could also use contact paper. I didn’t have to do anything to it for it to be removable, it came right off!
Hey where did u get the letters from
Hi Sherri! I cut the out of vinyl (contact paper) using my cricut. You could also cut them with scissors and a template!
Hi Brandy,
What size did you make your letters? Thank you
Hi Stephanie! The letters were 7″ tall. Have a great day!
Hello. Do you how wide the letters were?
Hi Kristen! I don’t remember how wide they were, I’m sorry!
Did you prime your canvas? And did each girl end up using all their own paint or was there left over ?
I didn’t do anything to the canvas and the 6 bottles of paint were enough for all of the girls with plenty left over. Probably only used 1/2 of each bottle.
How long did it take for the canvas to dry so you could remove the letters? Just trying to take that into consideration to plan other things to do to give enough time.,
Hi Deb! I removed the vinyl while the paint was still a little tacky. I used tweezers to pull the vinyl up. MOST of the canvases were dry by the time the party ended, after allowing them to sit for 45 minutes or so.
How long did the girls spend painting? Planning this as the activity for my turning 8 year old. Just wondering if I will need other activities to fill time. Thanks
The girls spent about 45 minutes painting, but some used quite a bit of paint and so I’d allow about an hour to dry. We painted as soon as they arrived and did all of the activities after while they dried!
I am not familiar with using cricut vinyl, but would like to do this activity for my daughters birthday. When I look up this material on Amazon there is so much to choose from! Could you please tell me which specific vinyl I should get? Some say removable, some have adhesive, etc.. Thank you!!
Oh, I KNOW! There are so many to choose from. My vinyl is super old, and I hardly use my 14 year old Cricut anymore (time to upgrade, haha). You’ll just want a removable one. You can also use contact paper that you’d find in the shelf liner section at Walmart or Target. It comes in clear and white. I just used a darker vinyl so that it would be easier to see when it came time to peel it off after painting.
I think your idea of having a painting party is absolutely creative! My daughter is celebrating her birthday this coming July and I was troubling over how to celebrate it for her this year. I think that my girl will love your idea and what’s more, the kids will even get to bring back their own artwork! I will definitely talk to my husband about hosting a painting party this year and see what he can contribute.
Thank you! The kids had a great time and still have their masterpieces! 🙂
What colors are the paint
Hi Amanda! I don’t have the exact colors that I used anymore (we used up the bottles awhile ago). I just picked up a vairety of purple, teal, green and pink colors for them!
Hello, can you please email me the list of other paint ides, the link didn’t work for me. Considerimv this for my daughters 7th bday in a few weeks
Hi Natasha! The link takes you to some ideas on Pinterest: https://pin.it/7KmEGUl
For the 11 x 14 canvas. How many inches were the letters?
Hi Jessica! They are about 6-7″ tall.
Do you happen to remember which font you used? I’m having trouble finding one that is thick enough! Thank you!!
Hi Jessica! I don’t remember, I’m sorry! It was an old cricut machine with font cartridges, not like the machines they have today where you can use any font you’d like. So I’m not sure what font it would have been. Something off of the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.
No worries! Thank you again!
Hi!! I love this idea and am going to use it for my daughters party. I don’t have access to a Cricut. How can I make the letters so perfect?
Hi! You can print them out in google docs or Microsoft word and use them as a template to. cut out the vinyl!
Thank you for your post.
Really liked your arts
Hello! Great idea. I was planning to use removable vinyl. Did you adhere the vinyl the day of or day before? I’m worried it will get stuck and won’t come off. Will probably have a dress rehearsal just in case lol
I did it the day before and it came right off the next day.
Absolutely love this. I was going crazy thinking that I should have a pre-drawn canvas but I like this idea much better. I have a cricut so this will definitely help. And cut our costs.
I do need to look at the different paints available. We might have about 12 girls.
Awesome! I hope they have fun!!
Thank you for sharing your daughter’s canvas paitning party idea! I am planning a similar party for my 7 year old andyo’ve provided great inspiration.
Thank you
Awesome! I love that. Have fun!
I’ve never used sponge or foam paintbrushes before. do they clean easily with a cup of water if you dont want the colors to mix? Did you set out cups of water for the girls?
They clean up when you are done painting, but don’t work well for switching colors during a project like regular brushes do. I just made sure I had plenty of sponge brushes so they didn’t have to mix colors with them. I had cups of water to rinse regular brushes if they wanted to use those. 🙂